Method and apparatus for printing 3D objects using additive manufacturing and material extruder with translational and rotational axes

ABSTRACT

A 5D printer, which additively manufactures an object, includes an extruder that can move linearly along three orthogonal axes and rotationally around at least one of the axes with respect to the object while depositing a material. A gantry is movable along X, Y and Z axes, and a trunnion table movable about A and B axes is mounted on the gantry. A platen is mounted on the trunnion table, and the extruder deposits the material on the platen while moving the gantry and trunnion table. A model of the object is analyzed to produce a stress tensor for the object, and the depositing is according to the stress tensor.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to additive manufacturing, and moreparticularly to printing three-dimensional (3D) objects using materialextruders with translational and rotational degrees of freedom.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

3D printing is an additive manufacturing process for makingthree-dimensional objects of arbitrary shapes from digital models. In 3Dprinting, successive layers of a material are laid down adjacently toform the objects. Typically, a round or ribbon like material is extrudedthrough a movable nozzle.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,329 describes fusion deposition modeling, wherein anextruder is moved in a rectangular coordinate system while producing astream or ribbons of melted thermoplastic material. The ribbons are laiddown adjacent to each other to produce layers that fill the volume ofthe desired object.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,866,058 describes controlling a local environment tomaintain the extruded material below a solidification temperature, andabove a creep relaxation temperature while making objects.

Generally, objects produced by prior art methods have the undesirableproperty of severe anisotropic tensile strength variation. Theindividual ribbons of melted thermoplastic have an axial strength closeto the bulk strength of the material, but inter-ribbon and inter-layerbonding strengths vary greatly.

For example as shown in FIG. 1 for injection-molded acrylonitrilebutadiene styrene (ABS), the individual ribbon axial tensile strength isabout 30 Mega Pascal (MPa), with a 45/−45 degree crisscross and a 0/90orientation composite at around 20 MPa, and a traverse (ribbon toribbon) strength of about 2 MPa, or about 1/15th of the ribbon's axialstrength.

Special polymers, such as ABS functionalized with polymethylmethacrylate(PMMA) as described in U.S. 20090295032 can improve the bonding. Highcost materials, such as polyetherimides, can produce parts with aminimum strength of 35 MPa in the inter-layer bond strength and with amaximum of 90 MPa as the individual ribbon tensile strength, which is a2:1 strength discrepancy, but still far better than the 15:1 ratio ofthe conventional ABS.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,906,863 describes adding short fibers to a thermosettingmixture, such as a ceramic slurry, to produce a “green part” withoriented fibers. A specific method to control the orientation is notdescribed.

Most prior art 3D printers are based on a three degree of freedomlinearly orthogonal (XYZ) manipulation of the work piece and extruder.

Some 3D printers use rotating discs or a cylinder as a support base, seeWO 2011/011818, in order to provide a more uniform surface for spreadingof powder that will later be glued, solvent-bonded, or laser-sintered.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A 5D printer, which additively manufactures an object, includes anextruder that can move linearly along three orthogonal axes androtationally around at least one of the axes with respect to the objectwhile depositing a material.

A gantry is movable along X, Y and Z axes, and a trunnion table movableabout A and B axes is mounted on the gantry. A platen is mounted on thetrunnion table, and the extruder deposits the material on the platenwhile moving the gantry and trunnion table.

A model of the object is analyzed to produce a stress tensor for theobject, and the depositing is according to the stress tensor.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a schematic of conventional anisotropic tensile strengthcharacteristics of extruded materials used by prior art 3D printers;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a method for additive manufacturingaccording to embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic of a 5D printer according to embodiments of theinvention;

FIG. 4A is a schematic of a prior art material pattern according toembodiments of the invention;

FIGS. 4B and 4C are schematics of material patterns according toembodiments of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a method for additive manufacturing based ontensile strength according to embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 6. is a schematic of isotropic tensile strength characteristicsaccording to embodiments of the invention; and

FIGS. 7A, 7B, 7C, 7D and 7E are schematics of extruder componentsaccording to embodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The embodiments of our invention provide a printer for producingthree-dimensional (3D) objects using additive manufacturing. As anadvantage, the objects have high tensile strengths oriented alonghigh-strain direction of the objects when in use.

Stress Based Design

As shown in FIG. 2 for one embodiment, a computer aided design (CAD)module 210 is used to generate a model 211 of an example 3D (spherical)object 201. The model is analyzed 500 to determine distributions ofstresses that may be present when the object is in use. The result ofthe analysis is a volumetric stress tensor 221, for example,

$\begin{bmatrix}\sigma_{11} & \sigma_{12} & \sigma_{13} \\\sigma_{21} & \sigma_{22} & \sigma_{23} \\\sigma_{31} & \sigma_{32} & \sigma_{33}\end{bmatrix}\mspace{14mu}{{or}\mspace{14mu}\begin{bmatrix}\sigma_{xx} & \sigma_{xy} & \sigma_{xz} \\\sigma_{yx} & \sigma_{yy} & \sigma_{yz} \\\sigma_{zx} & \sigma_{zy} & \sigma_{zz}\end{bmatrix}}$depending on whether coordinates of the tensor are numbered x₁, x₂, x₃,or simply labeled x, y, z. The tensor is used to control motions 230 ofa printer 300 and the extrusion velocity according to embodiments of theinvention. The CAD and the analyzing can be performed by a processor 502connected to memory and input/output interfaces as known in the art.

As an advantage, the printer uses 3D linear translation motions alongorthogonal axes, and angular rotational motions about the axes A and B,for up to 3D of orientations, to achieve the desire tensile strengthcorresponding to the volumetric stress tensor 221. The motion isdetermined by a controller 301 running a single stream of G-code. G-codeis the most widely used numerical control (NC) programming language. TheG-code directs the printer to make the object defined by instructionsthat move the extruder relative to a support base and the object usingpredetermined locations and velocities.

Printer

FIG. 3 shows one embodiment of a five degree of freedom (5D) printer.The linear horizontal axis X 301 and Y 302 and vertical axis Z 303 of amovable gantry 320 are used to position an extruder 304 in relation to aThe apparatus en 305. The platen 305 can be rotated and tilted about tworotational axes A 306 and B 307, using conventional G-code notation “A”and “B” for angles. The assembly of crossed axes A and B are oftenreferred to as a “two axis trunnion table” or simply as a “trunniontable” in the field of machine tooling.

The object 201 is constructed by feeding a ribbon of material 310through the extruder, and depositing a disposable support 309 on theplaten. Then, the object can be deposited on the disposable support. Thedisposable support is generally constructed of a very sparse laydown ofribbons of the material designed to easily break free of the object whenthe manufacturing is completed. In other words, it is ideal for thesupport to be frangible. The disposable support is of sufficientthickness to allow the extruder to reach a full 360° hemisphericalapproach to the object 201.

By moving the extruder linearly along the X, Y and Z axes, and angularlyabout the A and B axes, the extruder can achieve any desired positionand angle with respect to the object, and thus the ribbon of extrudedmaterial 310 with any desired axis orientation can be deposited on theobject.

It is understood that the object can be manufactured by the printer inmany different orientations. However, some orientations may be preferreddue to a reduction in the required thickness of the support.

As an example of this process, consider a nonuniformly stressed flatplate. If the stress analysis of the flat plate indicates that thetensile loading in a particular area of the material is 10 MPa in theeast-west direction, 5 MPa in the north-south direction, and zero in theup-down direction, then an optimal material laydown would be two ribbonseast-west, followed by one ribbon north-south, then two ribbonseast-west, followed by one ribbon north-south, and so repeated until thedesired material thickness was obtained. Other simple patterns can beused for other shapes.

EXAMPLE Pressure Tank

As shown in FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C, a more interesting example object is aspherical pressure tank. For ease of this description, we ignore accessholes and mounting hardware.

From a local perspective of a small part of tank wall material, eachneighborhood looks identical. The stress tensor indicates that eachsmall volume of tank wall is subject to uniform tension in alldirections perpendicular to the radial direction of the tank. However,from a global perspective of view, the stress tensor varies with thelatitude and longitude of each small volume of tank material.

As shown in FIG. 4A, a patch at the “north pole” of the spherical tankexperiences forces that are well-accommodated by an XY laydown path of aconventional XYZ 3D printer. However, the equator of the spherical tankis subject to a large tensile stress in the Z direction 404, which is asnoted above as being very weak in a conventional 3D printer. This isbecause a conventional XYZ 3D printer cannot lay down a ribbon alignedwith the Z axis. Thus, the spherical tank printed on a conventional 3Dprinter has a weak equator and may rupture at the equator when subjectto overpressure. Naäve solutions would make the equator materialthicker, e.g., ten times thicker is required for ABS, or make thepressure tank asymmetrical, e.g., longer along the Z axis.

However, in a better solution for a maximum strength tank, each sectionof the tank should be mostly composed of radial ribbons, eachperpendicular to the radial “out” direction of the tank. The entire tanksurface can be tessellated by geometric dispersions of these radialribbon patterns, i.e. a regular and abstract regular polyhedra, as wellas geometric dispersions produced by geodesic means. This greatlyimproves the tensile strength of the tank.

It is impossible for a conventional three degree of freedom XYZ printerto achieve the orientations needed to lay down this ribbon patterns.However, the 5D printer as described herein, with translation of theextruder along the XYZ axes, and rotation of the object along the A andB axes is able to produce a pressure tank with near optimal strength toweight ratio, and near constant wall thickness.

FIG. 4A shows the conventional arrangement of the ribbon material for aspherical pressure tank 400 constructed by a conventional 3D printer.Layers 401, 402, 403, etc. are “weakly” attached in the Z 404 direction,giving about a 2 MPa tensile limit in the material in the Z direction, 2M Pa is approximately 300 PSI, so if the pressure vessel had an interiorcross section of 1 square inch for the contained pressurized fluid, andan equatorial annulus cross section also of one square inch, we wouldexpect the vessel to rupture in the Z direction at a pressure ofapproximately 300 PSI.

FIG. 4B shows one embodiment for the ribbon extrusion of a sphericalpressure vessel 450. First, an interior shell 410, one ribbon thick, isdeposited by the extruder. Then, a sequence of radial ribbon asteriskshapes 411-415 are printed directly by using the 5D printer 300. Eachasterisk has an optimal strength ribbon laydown pattern for the pressureinduced stress at that local area of the spherical pressure vessel. Theoptimal placement and order of printing these radial ribbon patterns canbe determined stochastically or deterministically.

For example, the first radial ribbon pattern 411 can be printed anywhereon the surface. The second pattern can be printed anywhere that does notoverlap the first one. Preferably, to minimize movement time, thepattern should be the nearest pattern that does not overlap the firstpattern. This “nearest not overlapping” selection method continues untilno more non-overlapping patterns can be printed. Then, all of theprinted patterns are removed from consideration, and another randomlyselected pattern is selected and printed. The “nearest not overlapping”selection method iterates until all of the desired patterns are placedon the surface. Assuming on-axis maximum yield strength, we anticipatethat the same one-square-inch payload cross section, one square inchannulus strength, of between 20 and 30 MPa, or about 3000 to 4000 PSI atfailure, which is an order of magnitude better than object printed by aconventional 3D printer.

FIG. 4C shows another embodiment. This embodiment is based on aheuristic that the spherical pressure tank 420 can be constructed bywinding parallel extrusions in the XY 423, XZ 422, and YZ 421 planes, orby winding analogous to the directions of the lines of latitude andlongitude on a globe. Although these extrusion patterns, withnonparallel ribbons of materials, may be less optimal in terms ofstrength to weight ratio, the patterns are simpler to calculate,analyze, and program the appropriate five degree of freedom motions. Inthe case of nonparallel depositing, the material can be distributedaccording to a weighted sum of local stresses on the object.

Analysis

FIG. 5 shows design and analysis 501 alternatives. The stress tensor 221can be determined by a finite element method (FEM) 510. FEM is anumerical technique for determining approximate solutions to boundaryvalue problems. FEM uses variational methods to minimize an errorfunction and produce a stable solution.

Alternatively, the tensor can be determined according to a stress tensorperformance specification 520, or assumed 530 to be constant, uniform orselected from a predetermined library of typical shapes. The appropriatedisposable support 309 can also be designed the same way. Then, theobject 201 can be constructed by the printer 300.

Subsequently, the object can be tested 550 to destruction. A failuremode of the tested object can then be used to update 560 the actualin-use stress tensor, and the updated stress tensor is then used toproduce a more optimal laydown pattern for the next generation ofobject. This iterative process can be repeated as desired, allowingfurther generations of objects with strengths dependent on actual in-usefailure modes to be automatically designed.

In another embodiment, the stress tensor is determined intuitively, atsome convenient level of detail, for the preferred orientations ofvarious ribbons within the desired object. For example, a designer mightknow that the object will be used as a hydraulic cylinder with a highinternal pressure, and will be put into axial compression by an externalframe, and thereby needing only a small amount of axial tensilestrength. Thus, the designer would specify most if not all of the ribbonlaydowns to be axis-symmetric circular paths around the interior of thecylinder.

FIG. 6 shows an object 600 in the shape of a torus with correspondingtensile strengths for the various axes according to the embodiments.These extrusion patterns are impossible to reproduce with a conventional3D printer.

Alternative Embodiments

FIG. 7A shows an arrangement where the extruder is be rotated about theZ axis during extrusion to put a “twist” in the ribbon material, similarto the way a thread is spun to increase its tensile strength. If thematerial has a circular cross section, the extruder can include interiorrectangular or polygonal riffling as shown in FIGS. 7B and 7C. Theriffling imparts a preferred orientation or microstructure to theextruded material.

FIG. 7D shows a configuration wherein the extruder is “J” shaped and canrotate about the Z axis. This way, the extruder can deposit material inotherwise hard to reach interior portions of the object.

In one alternative embodiment, the “path” followed by the nozzle can beoptimized in various ways, e.g., to minimize production time, maximizestrength, minimize material usages.

In another embodiment as shown in FIG. 7E, the extrusion is combinedwith ultrasonic bonding, whereby high-frequency ultrasonic acousticenergy is locally applied to the material using a transducer 705 toachieve a solid-state “bond.” This is useful with thermoplasticsmaterials, especially for extruding and joining dissimilar materials.This ultrasonic bonding assist technique can be used selectively, suchas to produce a “strong” object (produced with ultrasonic assist) builton a highly frangible support (produced without ultrasonic assist),i.e., the printer produces material bonds with various strengths.

Although the invention has been described by way of examples ofpreferred embodiments, it is to be understood that various otheradaptations and modifications can be made within the spirit and scope ofthe invention. Therefore, it is the object of the appended claims tocover all such variations and modifications as come within the truespirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:
 1. A method for specifying the manufacturing of an object froma thermoplastic material having dimensions, comprising the steps of:employing a processor executing computer executable instructions storedon a computer readable memory to facilitate performing the steps of:using a computer aided design (CAD) module that comprises a model of theobject; determining a series of instructions that move an extruderdepositing the thermoplastic material to manufacture the object, whereinthe deposited thermoplastic material exhibits an anisotropic tensilestrength along an axis of a direction of deposition, and a pattern ofthe depositing is selected to deposit the thermoplastic material in theobject according to, in a stress analysis of the model of the object,different tensile loads directed along axes of the object, according toan array of 3D tensile stresses of the model of the object under stress,while substantially maintaining the same dimensions of the object asconfigured for manufacture.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein a finiteelement method is used to determine the 3D tensile stresses of the modelof the object under stress.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the 3Dtensile stresses of the model of the object under stress are specifiedby a designer.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the 3D tensile stressesof the model of the object under stress are assumed to be constant,uniform or selected from a predetermined library of typical shapes. 5.The method of claim 1, wherein the series of instructions to move theextruder depositing the thermoplastic material include patterns withlaydown paths with non-zero slope angles relative to a support base of athree dimensional (3D) printer.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein theseries of instructions specify the moving of the extruder linearly alongthree orthogonal axes and the moving of a trunnion table rotationallyaround at least one of two additional axes.
 7. The method of claim 6,wherein the series of instructions achieve non-zero slope anglesrelative to the object on a stationary support base.
 8. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the series of instructions consist of G-code.
 9. Themethod of claim 5, where in the series of instructions consisting ofG-code use the notation “A” and “B” for angles of a two axis trunniontable.
 10. A method for specifying the manufacturing of an object from athermoplastic material having dimensions, comprising the steps of:performing, by executing computer executable instructions stored on acomputer readable memory by a processor, the steps of: using a computeraided design (CAD) module that comprises a model of the object;determining a series of extruder instructions that move an extruder withrespect to a support base and the object, while depositing thethermoplastic material to manufacture the object, wherein the depositedthermoplastic material exhibits an anisotropic tensile strength along anaxis of a direction of deposition, and a pattern of the depositing bythe extruder is selected to deposit the thermoplastic material in theobject according to, in a stress analysis of the model of the object,different tensile loads directed along axes of the object, according toan array of 3D tensile stresses of the model of the object under stress,while substantially maintaining the same dimensions of the object asconfigured for manufacture.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein theseries of instructions to move the extruder depositing the thermoplasticmaterial include optimizing a path of the extruder in order of anincreasing Z height.
 12. The method of claim 10, wherein the series ofinstructions to move the extruder depositing the thermoplastic materialinclude optimizing a path of the extruder in order for minimizing aproduction time.
 13. The method of claim 10, wherein the series ofinstructions to move the extruder depositing the thermoplastic materialinclude optimizing a path of the extruder in order for maximizing astrength of the object.
 14. The method of claim 10, wherein the seriesof instructions to move the extruder depositing the thermoplasticmaterial include optimizing a path of the extruder in order forminimizing an amount of at least one material usage.
 15. The method ofclaim 10, wherein the series of instructions to move the extruderdepositing the thermoplastic material include instructions for arotating extruder, a J shaped encoder, a rifling type extruder or somecombination thereof.
 16. The method of claim 10, wherein the array ofpredetermined 3D tensile stresses of the model of the object understress is obtained from stored volumetric stress tensor data stored onthe computer readable memory.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein thevolumetric stress tensor data includes data of the object tested todestruction, and an array of stress tensors updated according to afailure mode.
 18. The method of claim 10, wherein the series ofinstructions consist of G-code, such that the G-code directs a printer,to make the object, defined by instructions that move the extruderrelative to a support base and the object using predetermined locationsand velocities.
 19. The method of claim 10, wherein the series ofinstructions to move the extruder depositing the thermoplastic materialinclude the object having a spherical pressure tank shape, such that thepattern of the depositing includes a tessellation by geometricdispersions to produce a constant wall thickness that optimizes astrength to a weight ratio.